Black William
White Heather: A Novel (Volume 1 of 3)
CHAPTER XIV
'ABOUT ILLINOIS.'
There was a good deal of bustle in the inn next morning; Ronald busy with the fishing-tackle for the second boat; luncheon being got ready for six; and the gillies fighting as to which party should have the landing-net and which the clip. In the midst of all this Miss Carry – looking very smart in her Highland costume, Tam o' Shanter and all – came placidly in to breakfast, and as she sate down she said —
'Pappa dear, I met such a pretty girl.'
'Have you been out?' he asked.
'Only as far as the bridge. I met her as I was coming back. And she looked so pretty and shy that I spoke to her; I think she was a little frightened at first; but anyway I got to know who she is – the Doctor's daughter. Oh, you should hear her speak – the accent is so pretty and gentle. Well, it's all settled, pappa; I'm just in love with the Highland people, from this out.'
'There's safety in numbers,' observed her father grimly; and then he proceeded to explore the contents of the covers.
When they were ready to go down to the loch they found that the men had already set out – all but Ronald, who had remained behind to see if there was nothing further he could carry for the young lady. So these three started together; and of course all the talk was about the far too fine weather, and the chances of getting a fish or two in spite of it, and the betting on the rival boats. Miss Carry listened in silence; so far she had heard or seen nothing very remarkable about the handsome young keeper who had so impressed her father. He spoke frankly and freely enough, it is true (when he was not speaking to her), and he was recounting with some quiet sarcasm certain superstitious beliefs and practices of the people about there; but, apart from the keen look of his eyes, and the manly ring of his voice, and the easy swing of the well-built figure, there was nothing, as she considered, very noticeable about him. She thought his keeper's costume rather picturesque, and weather-worn into harmonious colour; and wondered how men in towns had come to wear the unsightly garments of these present days. And so at last they arrived at the loch; and found that the gillies had got the rods fixed and everything ready; and presently the black boat, with Mr. Hodson and his two gillies, was shoved off, and Ronald, before asking the young lady to step into the green boat – the Duke's boat – was showing her what she should do if a salmon should attach itself to either of the lines.
'I don't feel like catching a salmon somehow,' she remarked. 'I don't think it can be true. Anyway you'll see I shan't scream.'
She stepped into the boat and took her seat; the rods were placed for her; the coble was shoved farther into the water, and then Ronald and the young lad got in and took to the oars. Miss Carry was bidden to pay out one of the lines slowly as they moved away from the bank; and in due course she had both lines out and the two rods fixed at the proper angle, and the reels free. She obeyed all his instructions without haste or confusion. She was a promising pupil. And he wondered what nerve she would show when the crisis came.
Now it may be explained for the benefit of those inexperienced in such things that these fishing cobles have a cross bench placed about midway between the stern and the thwart occupied by the stroke oar; and the usual custom is for the fisherman to sit on this bench facing the stern, so that he can see both rods and be ready for the first shaking of the top. But Miss Carry did not understand this at all. In entering the coble she naturally took her place right astern, facing the rowers. It never entered her head to be guilty of the discourtesy of turning her back on them; besides, Ronald was directing her with his eyes as much as with his speech, and she must be able to see him; moreover he did not tell her she was sitting the wrong way; and then again was not the first signal to be the shrieking of the reel? – and both reels were now under her observation, so that she could snatch at either rod in a second. The consequence of all this was that she and Ronald sate face to face – not more than a yard and a half between them – their eyes exactly on a level – and when they spoke to each other, it was very distinctly unter vier Augen, for the boy at the bow was mostly hidden.
'Pappa dear,' she said to her father that evening, 'he is a very nervous man.'
'Who?'
'Ronald.'
'Nonsense. He is hard as nails. He don't know what nerves mean.'
'He is a very nervous man,' she insisted (and had she not been studying him for a whole day?). 'His eyes throb when you meet them suddenly. Or rather he seems to know they are very powerful and penetrating – and he does not like to stare at you – so you can see there is a tremor of the lid sometimes as he looks up – as if he would partly veil his eyes. It's very curious. He's shy – like a wild animal almost. And that pretty girl I met this morning has something of that look too.'
'Perhaps they're not used to having the cold gaze of science turned on them,' her father remarked drily.
'Is that me?'
'You may take it that way.'
'Then you're quite wrong. It isn't science at all. It is an active and benevolent sympathy; I am going to make friends with every one of them. Ronald says her name is Miss Douglas – and I mean to call.'
'Very well, then,' said her father, who left this young lady pretty much the mistress of her own actions.
However, to return to the fishing: the morning did not promise well, the weather being too bright and clear, though there was a very fair breeze – of a curious sultry character for the middle of March – blowing up from the south and making a good ripple on the loch. Again and again the two boats crossed each other; and the invariable cry was —
'Nothing yet?'
And the answer —
'Not a touch.'
By this time Miss Carry had got to know a good deal about the young keeper whose eyes were so directly on a level with hers. He had been to Aberdeen, and to Glasgow, and to Edinburgh; but never out of Scotland? – no. Had he no wish to see London and Paris? Had he no wish to see America? – why, if he came over, her father would arrange to have him put in the way of seeing everything. And perhaps he might be tempted to stay? – there were such opportunities for young men, especially in the west. As for her, she was most communicative about herself; and apparently she had been everywhere and seen everything – except Stratford-on-Avon: that was to be the climax; that was to be the last thing they should visit in Europe – and then on to Liverpool and home. She had been a great deal longer in Europe than her father, she said. Her mother was an invalid and could not travel; her brother George (Joidge, she called him) was at school; so she and a schoolfellow of hers had set out for Europe, accompanied by a maid and a courier, and had 'seen most everything' from St. Petersburg to Wady Halfa. And all this and more she told him with the black soft eyes regarding him openly; and the pale, foreign, tea-rose tinted face full of a friendly interest; and the pretty, white, delicate small fingers idly intertwisting the buff-coloured gloves that she had taken off at his request. Inver-Mudal, Clebrig, Ben Loyal, the straths and woods around looked to him small and confined on this quiet morning. She seemed to have brought with her a wider atmosphere, a larger air. And for a young girl like this to know so much – to have seen so much – and to talk so simply and naturally of going here, there, or anywhere, as if distance were nothing, and time nothing, and money nothing; all this puzzled him not a little. She must have courage, then, and daring, and endurance, despite the pale face and the slender figure, and the small, white, blue-veined hands? Why, she spoke of running over to Paris, in about a fortnight's time, to be present at the wedding of a friend, just as any one about here would speak of driving on to Tongue and returning by the mail-cart next day.
Suddenly there was a quick, half-suppressed exclamation.
'There he is! – there he is!'
And all in a second, as it seemed, Ronald had flung his oar back to the lad behind, seized one of the rods and raised it and put it in her hands, and himself got hold of the other, and was rapidly reeling in the line. What was happening she could hardly tell – she was so bewildered. The rod that she painfully held upright was being violently shaken – now and again there was a loud, long whirr of the reel – and Ronald was by her shoulder, she knew, but not speaking a word – and she was wildly endeavouring to recall all that he had told her. Then there was a sudden slackening of the line – what was this?
'All right,' said he, very quietly. 'Reel in now – as quick as ye can, please.'
Well, she was reeling in as hard as her small and delicate wrist was able to do – and in truth she was too bewildered to feel excited; and above all other earthly things was she anxious that she shouldn't show herself a fool, or scream, or let the thing go – when all at once the handle of the reel seemed to be whipped from her grasp; there was a long whirring shriek of the line; she could hear somewhere a mighty splash (though she dared not look at anything but what was in her hands), and at the same moment she fancied Ronald said, with a quiet laugh —
'We've beat them this time – a clean fish!'
'Do you think we'll get him?' she said breathlessly.
'We'll hold on to him as long as he holds on to us,' Ronald said; and she heard him add to himself, 'I would rather than five shillings we got the first fish!'
'But this thing is so heavy!' she pleaded.
'Never mind – that's right – that's right – keep a good strain on him – we'll soon bring him to his senses.'
Again there was a sudden slackening of the line; and this time she actually saw the animal as it sprang into the air – a white gleaming curved thing – but instantly her attention was on the reel.
'That's it – you're doing fine,' he said, with an intentional quietude of tone, so that she might not get over-nervous and make a mistake.
Then he made her stand up, and fortunately the coble was rocking but little; and he moved her left hand a little higher up the rod, so that she should have better leverage; and she did all that she was bid mutely and meekly, though her arm was already beginning to feel the heavy strain. She vowed to herself that so long as she could draw a breath she would not give in.
The other boat was passing – but of course at a respectful distance.
'Hold on to him, Carry!' her father called.
She paid no heed. She dared not even look in his direction. The fish seemed to be following up the coble now, and it was all that the slender wrist could do to get in the line so as to keep the prescribed curve on the rod. And then she had to give way again; for the salmon went steadily and slowly down – boring and sulking – and they pulled the boat away a bit, lest he should suddenly come to the surface and be after some dangerous cantrip. She took advantage of this period of quiet to pass the rod from her left hand to her right; and that relieved her arm a little; and she even ventured to say —
'How long is he going on like this?'
'We'll give him his own time, Miss,' Ronald said.
'Don't call me Miss,' she said, with a little vexation.
'I – I beg your pardon – what then?'
'Oh, anything you like. Mind you catch me if I fall into the water.'
The truth was she was a little bit excited, and desperately anxious that her strength should hold out; and even permitting herself an occasional gleam of hope and joy and triumph. Her first salmon? Here would be tidings for the girls at home! If only the beast would do something – or show signs of yielding – anything rather than she should have to give in, and weakly resign the rod to Ronald! As for him, he stood almost touching her shoulder.
'No, no,' said he, 'there's no fear o' your falling into the water. We've got to get this gentleman out first.'
And then her feeble efforts at talking (meant to show that she was not excited, but having exactly the contrary effect) all went by the board. Something was happening – she knew not what – something wild, terrifying, violent, desperate – and apparently quite near – and all the line was slack now – and the handle of the reel stuck in her frantic efforts to turn it with an impossible quickness – and her heart was choking with fright. For why would this beast spring, and splash, and churn the water, while the line seemed to go all wrong and everything become mixed? But her trembling fingers got the reel to work at last; and she wound as quickly as she could; and by this time the salmon had disappeared again, and was bearing an even, dead strain on the rod, but not so heavily as before.
'My gracious!' she said – she was quite breathless.
'It's all right,' he said quietly; but he had been pretty breathless too, and for several seconds in blank despair.
The fish began to show signs of yielding – that last fierce thrashing of the water had weakened him. She got in more and more line – Ronald's instructions being of the briefest and quietest – and presently they could see a faint gleam in the water as the big fish sailed this way or that. But still, she knew not what he might not do. That terrible time had been altogether unexpected. And yet she knew – and her left arm was gratefully conscious – that the strain was not so heavy now; the line was quite short; and she became aware that she was exercising more and more power over her captive and could force him to stop his brief and ineffectual rushes.
Once or twice he had come quite near the boat – sailing in on his side, as it were – and then sheering off again at the sight of them; but these efforts to get away were growing more and more feeble; and at last Ronald called —
'We'll try him this time – give him the butt well – that's right – lift his head – now – ' and then there was a quick stroke of the clip, and the great monster was in the boat, and she sank down on to the bench, her arms limp and trembling, but her hand still grasping the rod. And she felt a little inclined to laugh and to cry; and she wondered where her father was; and she looked on in a dazed way as they killed the fish, and got the phantom-minnow out of its mouth, and proceeded to the weighing of the prize.
'Eleven pounds and a half – well done the Duke's boat!' Ronald cried. 'Is it your first salmon, Miss Hodson?'
'Why, certainly.'
'You'll have to drink its health, or there'll be no more luck for you this season,' said he, and he reached back for a pocket-flask.
'But where is my father?' she said – she was anxious he should hear the news.
'Oh,' said he coolly, 'they've been into a fish for the last ten minutes; I wouldna tell ye, in case it might distract ye.'
'Have they got one?' she cried.
'They've got something – and I dinna think it's a kelt from the way they're working.'
She clapped her hands in delight. Yes, and that involuntary little action revealed to her what she had not known before – that one of her fingers was pretty badly cut, and bleeding.
'What's this?' she said, but she did not heed much – now that the great beautiful gleaming fish lay in the bottom of the boat.
Ronald cared a great deal more. He threw aside the flask. A cut? – it was his own stupidity was the cause of it; he ought to have known that her delicate fingers could not withstand the whirring out of the line; he should have allowed her to keep on her gloves. And nothing would do but that she must carefully bathe the wound in the fresh water of the loch; and he produced a piece of plaster; and then he cut a strip off her handkerchief, and bound up the finger so.
'What do I care?' she said – pointing to the salmon.
And then he begged her to drink a little whisky and water – for luck's sake – though he had been rather scornful about these customs in the morning; and she complied – smiling towards him as the Netherby bride may have looked at Young Lochinvar; but yet he would not drink in her presence; he put the flask aside; and presently they were at their work again, both lines out, and the southerly breeze still keeping up.
They passed the other boat.
'What weight?' was the cry.
'Eleven and a half. Have you got one?'
'Yes.'
'How much?'
'Just over seven.'
'Duncan will be a savage man,' said Ronald, with a laugh. 'It's all the bad luck of his boat, he'll be saying; though it's good enough luck for the two first fish to be clean fish and no kelt.'
However, the Duke's boat fell away from its auspicious beginning that morning. When lunch time arrived, and both cobles landed at a part of the shore agreed upon, where there was a large rock for shelter, and a good ledge for a seat, Miss Carry had but the one fish to be taken out and placed on the grass, while her father had two – respectively seven and thirteen pounds. And very picturesque, indeed, it was to see those white gleaming creatures lying there; and the two boats drawn up on the shore, with the long rods out at the stern; and the gillies forming a group at some distance off under the shelter of the stone dyke; and the wide waters of the lake all a breezy blue in the cup of the encircling sunlit hills. Ronald got out the luncheon, for he had seen to the packing of it – and he knew more about table-napkins and things of that sort than those men; and then, when he had made everything right, and brought ashore a cushion for Miss Carry to sit upon, and so forth, he went away.
'Ronald,' Mr. Hodson called to him, 'ain't you going to have some lunch?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Come along, then; there's plenty of room right here.'
'Thank ye, sir; I know where they've put my little parcel,' said he – and he went and sate down with the gillies; and soon there was enough talking and laughing amongst them – faintly heard across the wind.
'Well?' said her father, when they were left alone.
'Oh, it's just too delightful for anything.'
This was her summing up of the whole situation. And then she added —
'Pappa, may I send my salmon to Lily Selden?'
'I wouldn't call it kindness,' said he. 'Looks more like boasting. And what's the good, since she is staying at a hotel?'
'Oh, she will be as glad as I am even to see it. But can't they cook it at a hotel anyway? I want to be even with Lily about that balloon. I don't see much myself in going up in a balloon. I would just like to have Lily here now – think she wouldn't fall down and worship those beautiful creatures?'
'Well, you may send her yours, if you like,' her father said. 'But you needn't dawdle so over your luncheon. These days are short; and I want to see what we can do on our first trial.'
'I'm ready now, if it comes to that,' said she placidly; and she put a couple of sweet biscuits in her pocket, to guard against emergency.
And soon they were afloat again. But what was this that was coming over the brief winter afternoon? The sultry south wind did not die away, nor yet did any manifest clouds appear in the heavens, but a strange gloom began to fill the skies, obscuring the sun, and gradually becoming darker and darker. It was very strange; for, while the skies overhead were thus unnaturally black, and the lapping water around the boats similarly livid, the low-lying hills at the horizon were singularly keen and intense in colour. The air was hot and close, though the breeze still came blowing up Strath-Terry. There was a feeling as if thunder were imminent, though there were no clouds anywhere gathering along the purple mountain-tops.
This unusual darkness seemed to affect the fishing. Round after round they made – touching nothing but one or two kelts; and this Ronald declared to be a bad sign, for that when the kelts began to take, there was small chance of a clean fish. However, Miss Carry did not care. She had caught her first salmon – that was enough. Nay, it was sufficient to make her very cheerful and communicative; and she told him a good deal about her various friends in the Garden City – but more especially, as it seemed to the respectful listener, of the young men who, from a humble beginning, had been largely successful in business; and she asked him many questions about himself, and was curious about his relations with Lord Ailine. Of course, she went on the assumption that the future of the world lay in America, and that the future of America lay in the bountiful lap of Chicago: and she half intimated that she could not understand how any one could waste his time anywhere else. Her father had been born in a log-cabin; but if he – that is, Ronald – could see the immense blocks devoted to 'Hodson's reaper' 'on Clinton and Canal Streets' he would understand what individual enterprise could achieve out west. The 'manifest destiny' of Chicago loomed large in this young lady's mind; the eastern cities were 'not in it,' so to speak; and Ronald heard with reverence of the trade with Montana, and Idaho, and Wyoming, and Colorado, and Utah, and Nevada. It is true that she was recalled from this imparting of information by a twenty-five minutes' deadly struggle with a creature that turned out after all to be a veritable clean salmon: and with this triumph ended the day's sport; for the afternoon was rapidly wearing to dusk. The gloom of the evening, by the way, was not decreased by a vast mass of smoke that came slowly rolling along between the black sky and the black lake; though this portentous thing – that looked as if the whole world were on fire – meant nothing further than the burning of the heather down Strath-Terry way. When both cobles were drawn up on the beach, it was found that Mr. Hodson had also added one clean salmon to his score; so that the five fish, put in a row on the grass, made a very goodly display, and were a sufficiently auspicious beginning.
'Carry,' said her father, as they walked home together in the gathering darkness, 'do you know what you are expected to do? You have caught your first salmon: that means a sovereign to the men in the boat.'
'I will give a sovereign to the young fellow,' said she, 'and willingly; but I can't offer money to Ronald.'
'Why not? it is the custom here.'
'Oh, I declare I couldn't do it. My gracious, no! I would sooner – I would sooner – no, no, pappa dear, I could not offer him money.'
'Well, we must do something. You see, we are taking up all his time. I suppose we'll have to send for another gillie – if you care to go on with that boat – '
'I should think I did!' she said. 'But why should you send for another gillie so long as Ronald says he is not busy? I dare say he can tell us when he is; I don't believe he's half so shy as he looks. And he's much better fun than one of these Highlanders; he wants his own way; and, with all his shyness, he has a pretty good notion of himself and his own opinions. He don't say you are a fool if you differ from him; but he makes you feel like it. And then, besides,' she added lightly, 'we can make it up to him some way or other. Why, I have been giving him a great deal of good advice this afternoon.'
'You? About what?'
'About Illinois,' she said.
